Bill Declares Israeli Sovereignty in Judea, Samaria

Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Danny Danon (Likud) will formally propose a law Monday that would make Israel sovereign over Judea and Samaria. The proposal will be placed before the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, which will decide whether the governing coalition supports the bill.

Bills that gain the Committee's backing are usually passed into law, while those that do not usually fail to become laws.

In 1967, Israel liberated the Judea and Samaria region – which has been the Jewish heartland since Biblical times – from a brief 19-year Jordanian occupation which began when the numerically superior Jordanian forces overran the area during Israel's 1948 War of Independence.

Since then it has formally declared sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights – also liberated in the 1967 Six Day War – but Judea and Samaria continue to be administered by military governors.

The bill would place Jewish communities under Israeli law, while leaving other areas under Palestinian Authority (PA) control.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's attempts to gain UN recognition of a state of "Palestine" creates "a historical opportunity" for Israel "to right a protracted wrong," said Danon.

Using an arboreal metaphor, Danon said that "The tree that Abbas climbed up could produce the fruit of the Zionist endeavor."

In the US, lawmaker Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) has introduced a bill in US House of Representatives expressing congressional support for Israel’s right to annex Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. The bill is modeled closely on Danon's bill and has been signed by more than 40 lawmakers.